Proper 26 (All Saints’ Wednesday)

Isaiah 25:6–9 (NIV84)

6On this mountain the Lord Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine— the best of meats and the finest of wines. 7On this mountain he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations; 8he will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove the disgrace of his people from all the earth. The Lord has spoken. 9In that day they will say, “Surely this is our God; we trusted in him, and he saved us. This is the Lord, we trusted in him; let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation.”

Revelation 20:4–6 NIV84

4 I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony for Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or his image and had not received his mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. 5 (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection. 6 Blessed and holy are those who have part in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years.

John 11:32–44 NIV84

32 When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” 33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. 34 “Where have you laid him?” he asked. “Come and see, Lord,” they replied. 35 Jesus wept. 36 Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” 37 But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?” 38 Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. 39 “Take away the stone,” he said. “But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.” 40 Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” 41 So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.” 43 When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44 The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”

Live Knowing Life Only Gets Better

Goal: That the hearer, in the midst of life's sorrows, will find comfort in God’s word of promise that life will get better.

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Our text today is the OT reading, and in particular verse 8 in which we heard: Isaiah 25:8

Isaiah 25:8 (NIV84)

he will swallow up death forever.

The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears

from all faces;

he will remove the disgrace of his people

from all the earth.

The Lord has spoken.

Some people call life in this world a valley of tears. This expression comes from a single Bible passage: Ps 84:6. Our English Bibles today don’t translate that psalm verse with “valley of tears.” They just use the Hebrew word, Baca: “Blessed are those whose strength is in you [O Lord] . . . As they go through the Valley of Baca they make it a place of springs . . .”

The Valley of Baca. That Hebrew word Baca is related to “weeping.” The valley of weeping. The valley of sorrows. The valley of tears. It’s a way of describing the pilgrimage of God’s people through this life, through this “valley of tears,” on our way to the eternal joys of God’s kingdom. And even though our English Bibles no longer use that phrase in Ps 84:6, the expression “valley of tears” is still well known to us—and the experience of life as a “valley of tears” is also well known.

We, God’s saints, are not immune to this experience. We who believe in Jesus are God’s saints, but we are not yet set free from sorrows. Quite the contrary. So on this All Saints’ Sunday, we rejoice, because, yes,

Life in This World Is Often a “Valley of Tears,” but the Day Is Coming When God Will Wipe Away Our Tears Forever.

This is our theme this morning, and we will unpack it by showing how this world is truly a valley of tears; then how out of compassion for us, Jesus entered this valley of tears for us; and finally how one day God will wipe every tear from our eyes — FOREVER!

This World Truly is a Valley of Tears.

Even though pop psychology might tells us such a view is unhealthy, it remains true. When I was a boy we are taught and told to keep our emotions in check, in fact it was said, “Big boys don’t cry.” Or maybe you’ve heard the term, “Suck it up!”

There are so many sources of tears today.

Physical pain —

Grief over death —

Injustice, mistreatment, persecution

Loneliness or rejection — This week I was talking with a pastor of our Church body and he described the abandonment he experienced when his wife left him a years ago. Though it happened a long ago, one could easily see the pain still in his face and eyes as he described how he tried to win her over, until she finally told him, “I am not your wife and never will be again, and you are not my husband.” — Loneliness, Rejection, Abandonment are very real.

Even our own sin and guilt

God’s people of old, even following God’s grace when He delivered a remnant of them from their enemies, allowing them to return home and rebuild the Temple, they still married those whom God told them not to… So, the Prophet Ezra prays:

Ezra 9:15–10:1 NKJV

15 O Lord God of Israel, You are righteous, for we are left as a remnant, as it is this day. Here we are before You, in our guilt, though no one can stand before You because of this!” 1 Now while Ezra was praying, and while he was confessing, weeping, and bowing down before the house of God, a very large assembly of men, women, and children gathered to him from Israel; for the people wept very bitterly.

Friends, if we saw our own sin rightly and fully, we, too, would weep greatly and bitterly.

The Psalms describe the grief of life in vivid terms:

“Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am in trouble; My eye wastes away with grief, Yes, my soul and my body!” (Psalm 31:9);

“My tears have been my food day and night, While they continually say to me, ‘Where is your God?’” (Psalm 42:3);

“I am exhausted as I groan; all night long I drench my bed in tears; my tears saturate the cushion beneath me.” (Psalm 6:6).

Even in our happiest moments, there is often some sorrow.

Author Henri Nouwen, in his book “Out of Solitude: Three Meditations on the Christian Life” says:

“There is a quality of sadness that pervades all the moments of our lives. It seems that there is no such thing as a clear-cut pure joy, but that even in the most happy moments of our existence we sense a tinge of sadness.

In every satisfaction, there is an awareness of limitations.

In every success, there is the fear of jealousy.

Behind every smile, there is a tear.

In every embrace, there is loneliness.

In every friendship, distance.

And in all forms of light, there is the knowledge of surrounding darkness.

When you touch the hand of a returning friend, you already know that he will have to leave you again. . . .

But this intimate experience in which every bit of life is touched by a bit of death can point us beyond the limits of our existence. It can do so by making us look forward in expectation to the day when our hearts will be filled with perfect joy, a joy that no one shall take away from us” [Out of Solitude: Three Meditations on the Christian Life (Notre Dame: Ave Maria Press, 2004), 53–54].

This incredible picture leads us to our next point:

Out of Compassion, Jesus Entered into this Valley of Tears for Us!

The point is — — God is not blind or deaf to our weeping.

Take childless Hannah as an example: (1 Sam 1:9–20).

Hannah did not have children and wanted them desperately. Her husband was very kind, but that did not help her sadness. “She was in bitterness of soul, and prayed to the Lord and wept in anguish.” Then she made a vow to the Lord that if He gave her a son that she would give him back to the Lord… “Then they rose early in the morning and worshiped before the Lord, and returned and came to their house at Ramah. And Elkanah knew Hannah his wife, and the Lord remembered her. So it came to pass in the process of time that Hannah conceived and bore a son, and called his name Samuel, saying, “Because I have asked for him from the Lord.”

God is not blind or deaf to our weeping!

And so, dear Saints, what tears have you shed?

Many years ago Tanya and I shed a flood of tears over not being able to conceive and have children of our own.

I, personally, have shed tears over my birthmother — whom I never met or knew. She carried me for 9-months, then made an adoption plan to place me with the Stenzel family.

What tears have you shed? Over what have your drenched your pillow with tears? Abandoned; Divorce; Death of a loved one; physical pain? What?

Beloved . . . God has seen your tears and heard your weeping. In fact, one Psalm speaks of God storing up our tears in a bottle (Ps 56:8). “You put my tears into Your bottle; are they not in Your book?”

But God has done more than notice our tears. In Christ, he has entered into our valley of sorrows.

Isaiah 25:8 has been fulfilled when Christ Jesus entered our world, then suffered and died upon the cross.

He entered this world to conquer death, the swallow up and remove the shadow of death forever.

Jesus himself experiences all the sorrows of this world; he weeps.

Weeping with Mary and Martha (Jn 11:33, 35).

Weeping over Jerusalem and its coming divine judgment (Lk 19:41).

He even cried out in sorrow over the bitter path of betrayal, abandonment, and death before Him.

Jesus came to take away their tears!

To the widow at Nain, Jesus comes to raise her dead son, saying, “Do not weep” (Lk 7:13).

To those wailing at the death of a man’s little daughter, he says, “Do not weep, for she is not dead but sleeping.” At first they mock him, but soon the girl is alive, and their tears are gone (Lk 8:52)!

To Mary Magdalene, weeping in the garden outside his tomb, Jesus comes speaks her name and brings her resurrection joy (Jn 20:11–16)!

And, because of His death and empty tomb, Jesus has given us resurrection joy as well and

One Day, God Will Wipe Away Your Tears—Forever.

Know this: The tears you shed today are temporary! This is God’s promise to us:

“Weeping may last for the night, but a shout of joy comes in the morning” (Psalm 30:5b);

“The one who weeps as he walks along, carrying his bag of seed, will certainly come in with a shout of joy, carrying his sheaves of grain” (Psalm 126:6);

“I tell you the solemn truth, you will weep and wail, but the world will rejoice; you will be sad, but your sadness will turn into joy. A woman giving birth has pain, because her time has come. But when she has delivered the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, because of her joy that a person has been born into the world. So you also have sorrow now. But I will see you again. Your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you” (John 16:20-22).

Did you hear what Isaiah said at the end of verse 8? Isaiah 25:8 “He will swallow up death for all time, And the Lord God will wipe tears away from all faces, And He will remove the reproach of His people from all the earth; For the Lord has spoken.”

On that day, God will wipe away every tear from your eyes . . . FOREVER!

Wiping away someone tears is one of the most intimate of all personal interactions. It is the very picture of empathy and compassion—the caring one is acknowledging and sharing the hurt and the grief behind those tears.

But the act of wiping away someone’s tears is not simply joining with them in grief; it’s not just “weeping with those who weep.” Taking your fingers and drying someone’s tears says something; it personally promises hope: “Don’t cry. Let me dry your tears. You’re not alone. I’m here to help, to shoulder the burden, to mend things. No more tears now. It will be okay. I promise.”

But for now, we wait. And often, we weep. In this life, we shed in tears. “Blessed are those who mourn,” Jesus says, “for they shall be comforted” (Mt 5:4).

And as we wait for the day God will dry our tears, we look for opportunities to dry the tears of others, to extend to them God’s own compassion, to bring them the good news of Jesus—who saw their tears, and out of compassion entered this valley of tears to carry their sorrows, cleansed them by his blood, Who will one day wipe every tear from their eyes.

Today, we celebrate God’s faithfulness to those who have died in the faith, whose struggles and sorrows are over, whose tears have ended. God’s saints shed many tears in this world. But for His saints in heaven, there is no more crying—just joy. They are finally looking upon the face of God (Mt 5:8), and God is beholding them as He dries their tears. And one day He will reach out His nail-scared hands to you and wipe away every tear from your eyes.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

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This truth changes our perspective on how we live life right now. When you are having a tough time in the here and now, how can you remember that you have a better life waiting for you with Jesus in heaven?

Too often, we see death, suffering, and struggles for the present pain they cause, but the Festival of All Saints draws our eyes out from them to see the glory of God. No, we may not look like saints. Death may not look like a victory. But Jesus proves it, and as he says, if we believe, we will see the glory of God.